The impact of cultural distance on the work performance of vietnamese employees in foreign enterprises :Hội nghị khoa học trẻ lần 4

Hội nghị Khoa học trẻ lần 4 năm 2022 (YSC2022) – IUH

Ngày 14/10/2022 ISBN: 978-604-920-154-7

256  2022 Trường Đại học Công nghiệp Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

YSC4F.119

THE IMPACT OF CULTURAL DISTANCE ON THE WORK PERFORMANCE

OF VIETNAMESE EMPLOYEES IN FOREIGN ENTERPRISES

LE CONG DOAN1,2, NGUYEN THI HUONG LY2

, MAI THANH HUNG1

, NGUYEN THI THO3

1National Yunlin University of Science and Technology,

2

Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City,

3College of Foreign Economic Relation;

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

[email protected]

Abstract. Work motivation is one of the factors that determine the work performance of employees. This

study was conducted to evaluate the motivational factors and its influence on the work performance of

Vietnamese employees at foreign companies and multinational companies operating in Vietnam. In the

context of current globalization, in addition to corporate culture factors that have an impact on work

motivation, the cultural distance between foreign companies and employees of the host country is also

important. Therefore, the study integrated the traditional model of factors affecting work motivation and

job performance, with Hofstede's six-dimensional cross-cultural indexes to observe and compare the

effects. Quantitative analysis method is used to build and test the scale of factors affecting work motivation

and the relationship between motivation and work performance. The results show that traditional factors

such as salary, bonus and welfare regime, career promotion and development, working conditions, and

leadership have a positive impact. However, when it comes to cultural distance, it doesn’t have any clear

impact on work motivation or work performance. This may be explained by the international integration of

Vietnamese employees in modern time, they are well educated with the sufficient knowledge of foreign

languages and necessary skill to work in such environment.

Keywords. cultural distance, work performance, work motivation, cross-culture.

1 INTRODUCTION

The employees of any business organization operating in any industry are the main source of the success

of that organization. According to Robbins (2005), people are the decisive factor to the success or failure

of an organization. Currently, the average Vietnamese enterprises only use about 40% of human resource

productivity (Phan Ngoc Trung, 2011). Satisfying and motivating employees is one of the strategies used

by managers to enhance the overall performance of the organization. According to Kamery (2004), the

more organizations expect from employees, the higher the work efficiency they bring and vice versa. The

existence and development of the company depends greatly on the efforts of the members, the dedication

and enthusiasm of the employees.

Today, when joining the WTO, businesses have to face fierce competition, it is necessary to quickly

improve the management apparatus and operations of enterprises to bring about high efficiency and

competitive advantage. Besides the technical and technological factors, human resources, investment

capital, business environment, and business strategy, corporate culture plays a very important role in

increasing competitive advantages for businesses. Corporate culture has been interested by many businesses

and is considered as a core issue for businesses to improve their competitive advantage.

When it comes to work performance, it is not a new issue, it has been covered by a lot of related research

in relation to work motivation or some other factor. Research by Fatih Çetin (2018) confirmed that

organizations strive to improve employee motivation, professional knowledge, skills and experience to

promote work performance. Similarly, Dewi Rama Niati et al (2018) also agreed that training and work